Scripture Fulfillment

[Guest Daave]

Matthew 8

14. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

16. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Just for fun, I decided to do a word study on "fulfilled." when I came to this passage in Matthew 8:17, the only place I could find that was similar is in Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

That is where my question comes from.

I would appreciate some input on this. Several of you here have some real scripture savvy so I wanted to turn you loose.

Did Matthew paraphrase Isaiah, or is there something in the Hebrew scriptures that would indicate what Matthew said?

Or would we have to classify this as like a word of knowlege recieved from the Holy Ghost.

Daave

[EricH]

Matthew 8

14. And when Jesus was come into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother laid, and sick of a fever.

15. And he touched her hand, and the fever left her: and she arose, and ministered unto them.

16. When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

17. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.

Just for fun, I decided to do a word study on "fulfilled." when I came to this passage in Matthew 8:17, the only place I could find that was similar is in Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

That is where my question comes from.

I would appreciate some input on this. Several of you here have some real scripture savvy so I wanted to turn you loose.

Did Matthew paraphrase Isaiah, or is there something in the Hebrew scriptures that would indicate what Matthew said?

Or would we have to classify this as like a word of knowlege recieved from the Holy Ghost.

Daave

Matthewsquote here does not follow the targum or LXX both of which "spiritualize" the Hebrew text. I think it propbable that this is Matthews own interpretation and translation of Isaiah 53:4. Many will object saying that Matthew is removing the suffering for sin and replacing it woth the idea of physical healing. There are better ways of understanding Matthew's thrust here:

1. When NT writers quoted a single passage it often refers to the entire context of the passage they cite. When Matthew quotes Isaiah 53:10-12 (Matthew 20:28), the idea of the atonement is properly referred to by Matthew.

2. The scriptures and jewish writings recognize that physical illness is ultimatley caused by sin

3. The passage in Isaiah seems to be referring to the Servant's taking the disease of others on himself through His suffering for their sin. The verbs used in Isaiah (nasa for took up and sebalam for carried) do not necessarily carry with them the idea of substitution, but can have that in their meaning (thus LXX changed infirmities to sins).

4. Isaiah 53 is used by several NT writers to speak of the atonement. If we understand Matthew to be viewing Jesus' healinig ministry as an outgrowth of the atonement, we have no issues

5. This idea is supported in the prologue of Matthew where he holds that Jesus came to save his people from their sins.

6. This means that according to Matthew, Jesus ministry was not and end in itself, but pointed to His redemptive work.

[Guest Daave]

Thanks EricH,

I was hoping that someone would step forward with some real help, and you did. I have been musing over this for the past couple of weeks and just didn't trust anyone around me with having enough real information. I'm glad that your a bit of a digger into these things.

Thanks also for answering quickly. It was a great help, and now I can move on from here.

Daave